Germany, Hitler, and World War II

This richly informative, scholarly but accessible collection of essays covers such topics as the Versailles Treaty and the origins of the stab-in-the-back legend; Hitler's foreign policy views before he came to power in 1933; the miscalculations of both parties to the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939; the Nazis' early euthanasia program for the elderly, the retarded and seriously wounded WWI veterans; and the German perspective on the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The author's thought-provoking essays question familiar assumptions such as the alleged reluctance of Italian soldiers to engage in combat and the supposed ugly friction between the British and American military brass. Weinberg (A World at Arms) calls for further research and investigation into such matters as the summary execution of at least 25,000 German deserters during the war. BOMC and History Book Club selections. (Feb.)